Our men’s basketball team secured a phenomenal victory at College Station on Wednesday Night as we defeated the 12th ranked Texas A&M Aggies, 86-84, to move to 19-9 overall and 7-8 in the SEC. The No.12 Aggies (AP Poll) fell to 20-8 and 9-6.
To say it was a mild surprise might sound like an understatement unless you understand the makeup of this group, which we all do. They’re warriors and were not going to be denied at Reed Arena. Our terrific marksman guard/forwardTyler Nickel sank 7 of 10 trifectas and finished with 21 points. Guard MJ Collins had a big night with 16 points and four boards. Our super combo point guard/shooting guard, Jason Edwards, we’re kind of a position-less group, finished with 15 and was iron from the charity stripe sinking 8-for-8 at the stripe. We were 28-for-36 as a team from the line, 78%, and that was massive down the stretch.
The game took 2 hours 40 minutes with excessive foul calling and reviews. It was out of control. But our guys responded to those adverse conditions (the road and the refs) and emerged with a major resume building victory. Our terrific freshman point guard, Tyler Tanner, finished with 9 points and four assists, and was 4-for-4 from the line. These were all highly clutch free throw conversions in the last two minutes of the game. Big man Jaylen Carey sank a couple of key free throws late as well. Jaylen and our awesome other big man, Devin McGlockton, were saddled with foul trouble throughout the game. It was a very questionably officiated game. Devin fouled out, but pulled down 10 boards before he did. He always gives us superb minutes, even if he doesn’t score a ton of points. He usually gives us good offense though, and he’ll give us great effort every time out. One of the key moments in the game was when JaQualon “JQ” Roberts, our 6’8″, 230 inside guy, came in late with Devin and Jaylen in foul trouble. JQ gave us 8 valuable minutes. He pulled down four boards, had a massive dunk off a beautiful dish from MJ, and played awesome defense. JQ, one of the two holdovers from Stack’s program, along with Jordan Williams, which you gotta admire and appreciate, will be a valuable piece for us down the stretch if Jaylen and Devin get into some fouling issues or they just need a break. I love what JQ did for us Wednesday and what he can do for us going forward. Last season, towards the end of the 2024 year, JQ was coming on for sure as a freshman. So I really believe that he can be a factor for us. He’s tough, physical, is a very good rebounder, and give us some offense.
A.J. Hoggard, Chris Manon and Grant Huffman weren’t major factors in the outcome, but did some good things, and we always need those guys to play well in order for us to be successful. They are all three highly valuable pieces to this team’s success. Definitely need them to give us their usual quality minutes going forward. Manon put together an awesome performance against No. 24 Ole Miss last Saturday in our 77-72 victory at Memorial. He finished with 16, 7 boards, 4 steals and 3 blocks against the Rebels. He’s such a superb athlete, and brings so much energy to the court. A.J. is always an important player for us distributing and leading our offense along with some scoring and solid D. Grant brings hustle and talent. We’ll need everybody.
So where do we stand? We are now 19-9, and 7-8 in the SEC, tied for 9th in the conference. Auburn has been excellent this year at 14-1 and 26-2 and are the clear No.1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament according to ESPN’s Joe Lunardi and Heat Check’s Lukas Harkins, another accurate brackelogist. Auburn is projected No.1 in the South by both Lunardi and Harkins. Auburn’s only two losses are @ Duke, much earlier in the season and at home versus Florida a couple of Saturdays ago. We are seeded 9th by Joe in the South playing in Lexington versus 8th-seeded Illinois. Lukas has us 9th in the West playing No.8 BYU in Wichita. So riveting stuff going on with our team, and if we keep playing like this, we’ll get a higher seed going forward by both Joe and Lukas. I’ll keep you apprised on those developments as they transpire. Both Bracketologists release their projections each Tuesday and Friday, and these brackets are completely up to date as they both released their respective ones this morning.
We’ve got No.14 Missouri Saturday @ home @Memorial at 5 PM CT on the SEC Network. Need an electric crowd to help us knock off a very good team and enhance our resume even further. Missouri is 21-7 and 10-5 in the conference and is coming off a 101-71 home victory over South Carolina. They are presently tied for fourth with Tennessee in the conference standings and are a 5 seed by Joe in the East, and a 5 seed by Lukas in the Midwest. They are talented and can do damage in the NCAA Tournament, so we need to bring everything we’ve got. They defeated us in Columbia on Saturday, January 11th, 75-66. We can get this done, but it will take another stellar performance. We’ve got it in us though. Love the way we’re competing. Will give you a recap on Monday.
Vanderbilt Baseball
Our 13th/14th ranked Vanderbilt Baseball team is on a roll right now after sweeping Saint Mary’s last weekend at the Hawk and defeating Tennessee Tech handily this past Tuesday. We won 11-4 last Friday, 2/21, we won 13-7 on Saturday, 2/22, and 10-0 Sunday, 2/23, in 7 innings with the 10 run rule in effect after 7– top of the 7th at home, bottom of the 7th on the road. Then, for good measure, we defeated Tennessee Tech 16-3 at the Hawk in 7 on Tuesday.
RJ Austin is the heart and soul of this baseball team. Our junior from Atlanta is hitting .455 with 2 doubles, 3 triples, a homer and 9 Ribeyes. RJ is also 6-for-6 in stolen bases. Jacob Humphrey, who has found a home in the corners of our outfield, is hitting .440, and is 3-for-3 in stolen bases. Love what we’re getting from transfer Riley Nelson (Western Texas College/Yavapai College, Texas). Riley is hitting .406 with a double, a homer and 12 Ribbies. Freshman Rustan Rigdon is hitting .360, and I’m liking what I’m seeing out of freshman Brodie Johnston. He’s a slick fielding third baseman and was a highly ranked recruit in the class of 2024. Brodie hits and fields at a high level. He was 2-for-4 Sunday against Saint Mary’s with a pair of runs driven in. Like what we have there. Mike Macini, a transfer from James Madison, is going to be stellar at second base. With steady, reliable junior Jonathan Vastine leading the charges at short, we’ve got a good makeup in the infield with Nelson a nice fielding first baseman as well. The SEC is tough, but our 13th/14th-ranked team (Baseball America, D1 Baseball rankings, respectively) is shaping up well. We are now 8-1. Pitching has been pretty solid. Still some room for improvement. Really like what I’m seeing out of our present Sunday starter Cody Bowker. Cody is 1-0 with an 0.00 ERA. Can’t get any better than that. Cody, a Georgetown transfer, is a strike thrower. He’s walked four and struck out 12. JD Thompson and Ethan McElvain are still rounding into form on Friday and Saturday, respectively. Corbs will see how the guys develop before settling into an SEC weekend rotation. The bullpen has been very solid. Miller Green looks like a shutdown closer and we’ve got great arms in middle relief and for midweek starts.
We have UCLA tonight in L.A. in the Southern California College Baseball Classic. First pitch is a 7 PM CT and it’ll be streamed on BIG Ten Network+.
Saturday, we play USC in Irvine, CA. at 4 PM CT on the BIG Ten+ Network.
And Sunday, we face UConn at 12 PM in L.A., again. Today’s game is at Jackie Robinson Stadium, Saturday’s game is at Great Park, and Sunday’s game is again at Jackie Robinson Stadium, all in Southern California. So, two true road games today and Saturday. UCLA is 7-2, USC is 7-1, and UConn is 1-5. So, some challenges this weekend that will be good for getting us mentally tough for the SEC, which starts in two weeks @ Auburn. We’ll open @ Auburn Friday, 3/14, and play there through Sunday, 3/16. Will have much more on that after we get through this non-conference schedule. Major challenges this weekend starting today versus the Bruins.
Women’s Basketball
Khamil Pierre filled it up last night in our victory over A&M. (Photo courtesy of ESPN).
Sophomore Khamil Pierre poured in 31 points on 13-of-21 shooting from the field and added 6 boards, and freshman standout Mikayla Blakes finished with 18 points and 5 assists as our women defeated Texas A&M, 91-58, at Memorial Thursday Night. Khamil is from Phoenix, and Mikayla is from Somerset, New Jersey, 40 miles from the Big Apple. Justine Pissott added 14, going 5-for-5 from the field and 4-of-4 from the stripe. Justine is a junior from Toms River, New Jersey. It’s 75 miles from Toms River to Manhattan. We moved to 20-9 and 7-8 in the SEC. We’re now 9th in the conference and are an 8 seed in the Spokane Bracket in the NCAA Tournament according to ESPN Bracketologist Charlie Creme. Charlie is the expert in projecting the tournament bracket for the women’s game, and he’s pretty darn accurate as are Joe and Lukas in the men’s game. Mikayla is now averaging 23 points per game, and Khamil is at 20.9. Khamil also averages 9.5 boards per game. Iyana Moore is at 11.9 points per game. Coach Shea Ralph knows we have a lot of work left if we want to reach our goals of playing much deeper into March. We finish out the season this Sunday @ Missouri for a 2 PM CT tip on SEC Network+. The Tigers are 14-16 overall and 3-12 in the SEC. The SEC Women’s Basketball Tournament starts Wednesday, March 5th at Greenville, S.C. So, exciting stuff for the women’s team as well. Will have more on the SECT on Monday after we play Missouri, and, hopefully, get the job done.
Coach Mark Byington and Coach Ralph are doing absolutely tremendous jobs with the men’s and the women’s teams, respectively. Love our coaches. Of course, Corbs is doing his usual phenomenal job. He just keeps getting it done. Love what all three teams can do going forward with both the Men’s and Women’s bball teams heading into March and our baseball team setting its sights on the rest of the non-conference, and then homing in on the SEC in mid-March. Extremely exciting stuff going on for our programs.
Men’s and Women’s Golf; Women’s and Men’s Tennis
Will have a lot more for you on our three respective teams on Monday along with our Men’s and Women’s golf teams and our Men’s and Women’s tennis teams. All four teams are matriculating well.
The Men’s Golf team, which is ranked 14th in the Clippd rankings, the premier rankings in men’s and women’s golf, opens play at the Cabo Collegiate in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico this coming Monday with a loaded field competing. Should be a great measure on Coach Scott Limbaugh’s team Monday through Wednesday on the Twin Dolphin Course. Will have more as the team competes next week.
Coach Greg Allen and his 12th ranked Women’s Golf team (Clippd rankings as well) play in the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate Monday through Wednesday versus a talented field as well. More on the Women as well next week.
Our 19th ranked women’s tennis team (ITA Rankings), 8-1 on the season after opening SEC play with a 7-0 victory @ Missouri last Sunday, plays Mississippi State today @ the Currey Tennis Center in Nashville at 2 PM, and hosts No.17 Alabama Sunday at 1 PM. So huge weekend for the women’s tennis team.
The Men’s team is ranked 32nd by the ITA Rankings, and is 8-3 overall. After defeating LSU on the road this past Monday, 4-3, we play @Auburn today at 2 PM CT, and we are @ No.25 Alabama Sunday at 1 PM.
I love what Women’s Tennis Coach Aleke Tsoubanos is doing for our team, and what Coach Scott Brown is doing for our men. We have another Scott Brown, who is our pitching coach. So we two have Coach Browns on our respective staffs.
I’ll check back in Monday with a lot more on where all of our teams stand heading into the week. God Bless, have an awesome weekend, and Anchor Down!